On Friday the 20th of August, Circa Waves performed the final show of their tour at Brixton O2 Academy, London. Anticipation for the show could be felt from outside as eager fans cheered, sung and generally kept their spirits up from a dreary summers evening in London as the line snaked around the London’s famous landmark. For many, this would have been their first live show since lockdown and to match it a sense of freedom, excitement and liberation hung in the air as face masks were tossed casually to one side for the evening.
For Circa Waves they seem to be loosing the shackles of “that hit song” and carving a new path to bigger things. With a career-high peak of No4 for their last album “Sad Happy”, tonights gig felt more like a celebration of a number of reasons, not least the opportunity to have a communal mosh with 3,000 of your mates.
Kicking off with the sort of fanfare most bands would die to close a set with, ‘Wake up’ opened proceedings alongside a couple of confetti canons just incase you really weren’t sure what sort of evening it was going to end up as. Crowd duly eating out the palm of their hands, chanting back the words, the deal seemed pretty much sealed from the get-go.
But there was tenderness too. Half way through proceedings “Stuck in My Teeth” was a hi-light and a rare contrast to what had gone before tenderly connecting with both artist and audience.
But who were we kidding right? No-one comes to Brixton on a Friday night after 18 months of solitude not to party. Mosh pits were called for during “sorry I’m yours” and with crowds at fever pitch, confetti cannons going off for one final time, Circa Waves closed proceedings with their Gold selling “T-Shirt Weather” (Oh the irony of hearing that against a British Summer.) and left one very happy reviewer and 3,000 very happy fans chanting and snaking their way back into the London streets.
Job more than well done and looking forward to seeing where they head next.
By Simone Edwards
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